1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image capture device such as a digital camera and a method of controlling the same which specifically can transmit image data obtained by shooting.
2. Description of Related Art
A conventionally used image capture device such as a digital camera can shoot still images and moving images, and can record sounds during shooting. Image data and audio data obtained by shooting can be written as image files and audio files into a memory.
As an example, in a digital camera shown in FIG. 13, a camera body 41 includes an optical system 42 with a lens, a CCD and the like, a camera signal processing circuit 43, an encoder 44, a memory card 47, a decoder 45, a video output circuit 46, and an interface 48.
The camera signal processing circuit 43 performs necessary processing upon a signal obtained from the optical system 42. The encoder 44 encodes a video signal obtained from the camera signal processing circuit 43 by a compression technique such as JPEG. The memory card 47 is an attachable/detachable memory, and into which a video signal obtained from the encoder 44 is written. The decoder 45 decodes a video signal read from the memory card 47 by a compression technique such as JPEG. The video output circuit 46 outputs a video signal obtained from the decoder 45 to a display 49. The interface 48 is connected to a storage device 51.
The digital camera described above can write an image file and an audio file obtained by shooting into the memory card 47, and also can read an image file from the memory card 47 and display the same on the display 49.
As shown in FIG. 13, the storage device 51 connected to the digital camera includes a card drive 52, an interface 53, a storage medium 54, a decoder 55, and a video output circuit 56. The card drive 52 reads a signal from the memory card 47. The interface 53 is connected to the interface 48 of the digital camera. The storage medium 54 is a hard disk and the like, and into which a signal obtained from the card drive 52 or the interface 53 is stored. The decoder 55 decodes a video signal read from the storage medium 54 by a compression technique such as JPEG. The video output circuit 56 outputs a video signal obtained from the decoder 55 to a display 57.
So, by connecting the storage device 51 to the digital camera, an image file and an audio file stored in the memory card 47 of the digital camera can be transmitted to the storage device 51, and stored in the storage device 51. The storage device 51 can read an image file from the storage medium 54, and display the image file on the display 57 connected to the storage device 51.
In many cases, a personal computer has conventionally been used as the storage device 51. An image file and an audio file are transmitted from the digital camera to the storage device 51 under control of the storage device 51. Namely, the conventionally used storage device 51 regards the memory card 47 of the digital camera as an external memory of the storage device 51, and writes a file read from the memory card 47 through the interfaces 48 and 53 into the storage medium 54 such as a hard disk.
A storage device such as a personal computer has high processing power. So, the storage device can allocate image files to directories by date of shooting in parallel with transmission of the image files. Allocation of image data to directories by date of shooting makes it possible to manage image files stored in the storage device 51 according to date of shooting.
However, execution of transmission in the storage device 51 results in an inconvenience, since, like a personal computer, the storage device 51 should be equipped with a transmission unit.
In response, the inventor of the present invention has suggested that an image capture device be responsible for the transmission. According to this technique, image data can be transmitted from an image capture device to an external storage device connected to the image capture device even when the external storage device has no transmission unit.
However, an image capture device such as a digital camera is lower in processing power than a storage device such as a personal computer. Accordingly, transmission of image data (image files) takes a long time if an image capture device performs allocation of the image data (image files) to directories by date of shooting in parallel with the transmission of the image data (image files). If an image capture device is expected to be the same in processing power as a storage device, the image capture device should be increased in size. This undesirably goes against market needs for downsizing of image capture devices.